Fifty Shades of Darkness
by Harry Thomas Riddle
Summary: After she gets petrified, Hermione is transferred to Beauxbatons. Harry becomes an outcast when the whole school finds out he is Parselmouth, and accuses of being Slytherin's Heir. A confrontation with Voldemort corrupts his mind in the Chamber of Secrets. No longer tolerating the school's mistreatment Harry leaves Hogwarts for Durmstrang.


**Fifty Shades of Darkness**

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.

**Author's note:**

This is an another project that I've started along with _The Adventures of Harry Riddle_. Unfortunately, I have to postpone the update of the next chapters.

I've decided to change some characters' background in this story.

Harry Potter was still mistreated by the Dursleys but they never abused him to the point of making him a weak, angsty and emotionally annoying wimp, which is often depicted in most fan fiction. The Dursleys mainly underfeed him but never beat him or did worse things. Harry won't be a whiny loser who thinks that killing a lunatic like Voldemort would make him an evil murderer, I always laugh whenever I read that nonsense (for real…).

My version of Hermione Granger has Emma Watson's physical appearance.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin both died before Harry ever heard about them.

The magical community in Britain hasn't adopted modern muggle technologies.

"Speech"

_thoughts, spells and written text_

_**"Parseltongue"**_

_"spell incantations"_

**Chapter one: Dark Lord and Basilisk**

**Hogwarts. Scotland, United Kingdom. December 2016.**

As he walked towards the hospital wing, Harry was thinking in the current situation he was in, never had he felt so betrayed and isolated. It started at the duelling club, a demonstration duel against the "Slytherin's Prince", Draco Malfoy. He remembers perfectly what happened, when the whole school found out that he could speak the language of snakes, a language that is associated with evil. Everyone knows that the last person who could talk to snakes was the Dark Lord himself, Lord Voldemort. Following this event, the whole school had turned against him, either out of fear or mere malice. Ronald Weasley, his so-called best mate, is among those who think that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin. Everyone except one person; Hermione Granger, his other best friend, if Harry was honest with himself, Hermione was his only friend, his real best friend. Ronald Weasley was only a person who turned out to be a traitor, who turned against his best mate, finally his former best mate.

Harry wondered why he and Hermione were friends with Weasley in the first place. Harry was filled with anger at Weasley and all the other idiots he looked at him badly. Ronald Weasley, that bastard who had made Hermione's cries during the class of charm last year, and who had hurt Hermione's feelings. It was because of him that Hermione had spent Halloween alone in the girls' bathroom crying. It was because of him that Hermione was nearly killed by an eight-metres-tall troll. This Weasley bastard is a bully who put Hermione's life in danger. Without Harry's intervention, Hermione will surely have left her life in the girl's bathroom. Besides, Weasley had not even accompanied Harry to warn Hermione about the troll, but he had just stayed in the Great Hall with everyone. Harry cursed himself for accepting Weasley's lame apology, an apology he had not given to Hermione. As he approached the hospital gate, Harry made a decision; any semblance of friendship with the traitor was over, he can go tell, they all can go to hell. Hermione is the only person who deserves his friendship and loyalty. He promised himself to apologise for not having defended her enough and to thank her for all the times that she helped him.

Harry was interrupted from his thoughts when he reached the hospital wing. The headmaster and professor McGonagall were at the entrance of the hospital wing, the latter had a sad expression on her face. They turned around when they saw Harry. Harry felt immediately that they were waiting for his arrival. Recognising the expression on the face of the transfiguration teacher, Harry felt a sense of unease as the news of the bad news came. Harry was sure it was about Hermione. Both teachers notified Harry's defeated expression. Dumbledore walked over to Harry with his grandfatherly expression and put a hand on his shoulder and spoke in a soothing voice.

"Good evening Harry. I know you came here to see if miss Granger's condition has improved. Alas, my boy, I am sorry to announce that miss Granger has been transferred to another school, following a request from her parents. I can reassure you that miss Granger is going to receive care there"

Harry was struck by two feelings; relief and sadness. He was relieved to hear that his best friend was going to be healed and sad to know that she was transferred to another school, away from him. An unknown pain emerged from his heart, his best friend was gone, he wondered if she left him forever. The loneliness that had preoccupied his thoughts since her friend's petrifaction and the isolation of the whole school suddenly weighted on Harry's shoulders. Harry was panicking, he was alone. He tried to open his mouth to say something but no word would come out. The two professors exchanged a look and then looked down to Harry. Dumbledore removed his hand from Harry's shoulder. Harry just nodded and was lost. Seeing that one of his students was emotionally defeated, McGonagall said in a reassuring voice, "Mr. Potter, I'm sorry for sharing this new with you. But there was nothing we could do against the request of miss Granger's parents. It is for her well being that she is no longer with us. I advise you not to sink into sadness because I'm sure Miss Granger would have understood if the situations were reversed."

Harry still had his head down and nodded again. He analysed McGonagall's words and she was right. After all, Hermione is no longer in Hogwarts for her well-being, he will have done everything to keep her safe. Deciding to lament this news later, Harry thanked the two teachers and turned back. He did not know where he should go. He needed to avoid crossing the eyes of others, especially Weasley, so the Gryffindor common room was out of question, the Great Hall was not also an option. He could always go out for a walk near the Black Lake but it was cold outside, his warm clothes were in the common room. Harry simply walked down the halls of the castle avoiding the eyes of others. After a few minutes of wandering, Harry decided to go to the library which made him think back to Hermione. The library was where one of Hermione's passion is, books. He thought that she would have been proud of him to take the initiative to study or read any book in the library.

Once in the library, Harry sat down to the table that Hermione used to use. It was the only place where he felt so close to her despite the fact that she was no longer in Hogwarts. Harry had the impression that the scent of his best friend was still floating around the table, a smell of vanilla that reminded him of Hermione, was entering and coming out in his nostrils. He was breathing Hermione. _Oh Hermione, if only you were still here. I feel so lonely without you_, repeated several times in his head. It is in this situation that he eventually admit that he is lost without Hermione. He took off his glasses, put them on the table and wiped a tear on his cheek. As soon as he wiped his eyes, Harry felt anger emerge from himself, anger towards the person or the thing that is responsible for what happened to his best friend. Harry swore to make anyone who is responsible pay for getting Hermione petrified. In his anger, Harry also remembered all the people who mistreated, betrayed, insulted and isolated him. Successively, his anger turned into rage. Harry's magic began to react to his rage, he could feel his magical core boiling. Books on the shelf next to the table began to vibrate, some glass objects – which were nearby – broke into pieces. Harry became aware of what was happening and concentrated to calm down. After a few seconds, Harry finally calmed down and his magic stopped overreacting. He did not want to cause damage in the library.

Once relaxed, Harry got up to wandering around the castle again to try to clear his mind. Leaving the library, Harry put his hands in the pockets of his dress and that's when his right hand touched a piece of paper. Harry pulled it out and remembered it was the piece of paper Hermione held in her hand, the last time Harry went to visit her in the hospital wing. Harry recognised Hermione's handwriting on the piece of paper. Suddenly he stopped walking after reading the message that was written. He could not believe his eyes. _There's a fucking basilica in the school, and it's that monster that petrified Hermione!_ While Harry has just found out that Hermione got petrified by a basilisk, Harry did not realise he was near the girls' bathroom on the second floor. That's when Harry felt a pain in his scar. This pain did not last, but it was painful enough that Harry caressed his scar with his fingers. Harry was overcome by a strange feeling, it was like a heartbeat, and it was coming from the girls' restroom. Harry felt that the heartbeats were his own. Curiosity got the better of him and he made his way to the girls' bathroom without worrying that the restrooms were reserved for the opposite sex. The closer he got to the girls' bathroom, the more intense the heartbeats were getting, his scar began to hurt again, but the pain was different and Harry could not describe the feeling. When he felt the heartbeats beat faster, he swore that he did not have time to try understanding what was happening, and put a hand on his own heart.

When Harry entered the bathroom, he quickly headed towards wherever he felt the heart pulsations coming from, they were coming from near a sink in the centre of the bathroom. It was the first time he he was hanging out on the second floor. The bathroom gave the impression that no one had ventured there for decades, they were not cleaned, dust and cobwebs were everywhere. The sink in the centre, with four mirrors next to each other and they formed a square, their condition was like everything else. The sink was formed of a stone structure of grey colour. Harry glanced quickly at his surroundings before returning to the sink. Harry saw a book lying on the floor right in front of the sink and another pain attacked his scar. He could feel that the heartbeats came from the book and he felt as if the book was also aware of his presence. He did not hesitate to get closer to the book, placed a few centimetres from the sink.

He stopped in front of the book, his heart pulsations slowing down at the same time. The book was black with a yellow inscription; _T.M. Riddle_. Harry stooped to pick it up, the heartbeats stopped as his hand grabbed the book and he stood up again. He opened the paper and discovered that the inside was empty, there were only white sheets and he deduced that the book should be some kind of diary. He was wondering about the fact such an object had produced the effect he was feeling a moment ago. The only possible conclusion is that this diary must be enchanted, there is no logic in magic. Harry scanned the diary once again through the pages, he wanted to be sure he had not missed a page that was not empty. At that point, Harry was not sure if the heartbeats and pains in his scar were real or he was going crazy, maybe he was lacking of sleep.

Deciding that he should go to eat and that he could not eternally avoid facing the whole school, he turned on his heels to leave. He was about to hide the diary inside one of the pockets of his dress that his scar burned, the pain was so strong that he dropped the diary, put a hand over his scar and fell on the floor. He felt like he was being pierced by a sharp knife on his forehead and he had never had to deal with a pain of such magnitude. He was suffering and hoped that it would stop. He did not notice the book that was violently vibrating on the floor, he began to feel his own heartbeats emanating from the diary. Then he noted that the diary was moving on the spot. He picked it up and opened it and was surprised to see some texts, the colour was a bright red and which had the same shade as blood. Harry's eyes went away on their own as he read what was written, _Harry Potter__.__.. open the House. The sink next to you hides the entrance to the Secret Chamber of the Great Salazar. I know you speak the noble language of Salazar and you are the only person in the whole castle who can access it. The creature that petrified your friend is in it. Yes, Harry Potter, I feel your thirst for vengeance boiling in you_. Surprised and shocked, Harry dropped the diary, the pain in his scar forgotten. He tried to think to understand what was happening, if only Hermione was there with him, she would have already elaborated some theories. Not only could Harry feel his own heartbeat emanating from this diary, no matter what exactly this object was, it knew him.

Harry did not want to waste more time and followed the new instructions from the diary. He brought his head closer to the tap and looked for the engraving of a snake. He did not take long to find it. A shape that looks like a snake was engraved on the tap. Looking deeply, Harry thought that the snake could move. He concentrated and commanded, _**"open"**_, now he heard rattling. He took a few steps back and watched the scene in front of him. The tap detached itself from the sink, it slowly rose up into the air. Meanwhile, the sink opened in four, each part floating slightly above the floor. The various parts that once formed the sink, continued to distance from each other, revealing a wide hole about ten metres wide and long. It was impossible to even see the bottom of the hole, however, he could see it was forming a curve on all the visible part, _this looks like a__toboggan_, thought Harry. Without wasting more time, Harry jumped into the hole and he was right, it was definitely a toboggan. It was made of grey marble with white stripes, dust was everywhere during the fall. The fall lasted less than a minute and Harry landed on a concrete surface. He was in a corridor lit by torches, the corridor had a circular shape.

Harry walked down the hall, there was a long snake skin, the snake had to be tall judging by the size of the skin. All along the route, there were carcasses of rats and other animals. Harry reached a dead end, in front of him stood a metallic wall. There were several entwined metallic snakes. Harry guessed it was another door, he moved closer and, as he did with the tap, he hissed, _**"open"**_, the metallic snakes began to move and went to the wall. The door slowly opened, revealing a room that was several times bigger than the Great Hall. At the far end of the Chamber, hundreds of metres away, there was a large statue of a person's head, which Harry recognised as Salazar Slytherin. All along the entrance, up to a few metres from the statue of Salazar Slytherin, there were two rows of statues of cobra heads, separated around a ten metres distance.

Harry had not forgotten the reason of his coming in the Chamber of Secrets and entered into the huge Chamber. He looked around and saw that the two lines of snakes at each of his sides were duplicated in other rows, all leading to an identical statue of Salazar's head. The door behind him closed, which made Harry jump but it was a something to worry about later. He saw no sign of the basilisk. The diary vibrated for the third time that day and Harry opened it to see what it was revealing this time to Harry, _Harry Potter__.__.. Welcome to the main chamber of the Chamber of Secrets__.__.._ as soon as he finished reading it, a new pain in his scar once again led him to scream in agony. The pain was the worst he had felt so far and he lost consciousness.

When Harry regained consciousness, he was no longer near the entrance. He did not know how long he stayed there lying down on the floor, and looked up. The first thing he noticed was that his not scar was no longer hurting him and his wand was out of his pocket! A cold, masculine voice came behind him and he turned his head towards the unknown voice without hesitation. In front of him stood a boy who was at least 16 years-old, wearing a Hogwarts student dress, the crest was that of Slytherin's House. He was handsome, he had black hair and blue eyes, his jaw was firm and gave him an aristocratic feature.

"I have your wand, Harry Potter," he held the wand firmly while looking down at Harry. He had a neutral facial expression, hiding any emotion, "I must admit, I'm impressed by you Potter. I've discovered so much about you, rumours and your accomplishments", he added.

"Who are you and how do you know me?", Harry had no idea about the boy in front of him, he had never seen him at Hogwarts before. Strangely, Harry was not surprised that he was known by that strange boy, Harry Potter is a celebrity known to all, a celebrity now feared, hated and abandoned by everyone except his best friend, Hermione. Harry noticed the diary that was opened to the ground a few centimetres from the mysterious boy, the opened page did not display any text. He suddenly had a thought, _does it mean that_, when the person in front of him answered, with a smirk:

"_**My name is Tom, I was the one who guided you here"**_, Harry recognised Parseltongue. He glanced back at the paper and Tom, _**"Tom Riddle?"**_ Harry asked and he did not miss Tom Riddle's face change when he said his last name. He must be irritated. _**"That's right Harry Potter, a name I inherited from my muggle father. And this"**_, he hissed, pointing to the newspaper with his free hand, _**"**__**is**__** my journal. Enough about me! As I told you, you impressed me Harry, the fact that you can speak the noble language of the Grand Salazar is a fact! You and I have something in common Harry. We are both orphans and we grew up in a badly loved and treated place"**_.

Tom Riddle's last words reminded Harry of his life at Privet Drive, he wondered how much Tom knows about him. _How does he know __about it__?_ This short reminiscence of his life outside Harry caused a new explosion of rage. He had always hated the Dursleys. He told himself that the Dursleys will pay one day for mistreating him. They never considered him a member of their family, the feeling was mutual, they were just a bunch of bastards whom he was forced to live with. Harry was just a freak that had been dumped in front of their door, a freak they treated like a slave. Although, they had never beat him, they still underfed him, forced him to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs for 10 years, neglected his health and gave him Dudley's hand-me-down clothes. Now he has to return every summer to that place that he hates with a passion. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is becoming like Privet Drive, Harry was no longer looking to set foot in those two places.

For a moment, Harry had completely forgotten that he was not alone. Tom Riddle seemed to guess Harry's thoughts and watched him closely. Harry turned his attention back to him.

"Supposing what you say is the truth, why would you care about my childhood? Anyway, that's none of your business. What matters is to tell me where is that bloody basilisk that hurt Hermione!", exclaimed Harry in English this time. Tom Riddle did not answer and just made a face.

"How naïve you can be Potter! That mudblood had only got what she deserved. The basilisk is doing a great service to the school by purging us of mudblood filth like your dear Granger!" Riddle's latest statements only infuriated Harry even more and amused Tom Riddle. Filled with rage, Harry clenched his fist and pointed at Riddle. He spoke in a threatening, icy tone.

"HERMIONE IS NOT A FILTH, and don't you ever call her mudblood again, she's a thousand times better than the majority of people in the Wizarding World!" _How dare this idiot insult in such a way and say__s__ that she deserved to be petrified, an innocent girl like Hermione_. Without warning, Riddle pointed his wand at Harry, his sly smile replaced by an indignant expression.

"CRUCIO!"

Harry got hit by a reddish beam. Harry felt his body tearing into a thousand pieces, hundreds of thin blades piercing his skin, his muscles squirming in every direction, his bones breaking and the blood that was threatening to come out of his eyes. The pain was worse than it had been so far, a hundred times worse than what he felt in his scar. He was horribly gesticulating on the floor. However, he did not want to scream, he did not want to feel weak, but it was stronger than him and he finally screamed. The suffering did not want to stop. He was being tortured and there was nothing that could to do to get him out of this torment. After a minute – that seemed like an eternity for him – has passed, the spell was stopped but he was still feeling its effects, he was spitting blood. Harry was not familiar with that spell and he was just finding out what it can do to somebody. He heard Riddle explodes with a mad laugh.

"You're crazy Harry Potter, a fool who dares to challenge Lord Voldemort! Tell me Potter, how did you manage to defeat the greatest sorcerer of all the time and gets away with nothing but a simple scar? Somebody as weak as you are! So tell me, how did you do it?"

Still having not recovered from the situation he was trapped in, Harry had trouble making any sense of the information he had just heard. _Voldemort__? Scar? __Weak__ Wh__at__ was this __fool__ talking about Voldemort?_ After spitting more drops of blood, he raised his face up to face the lunatic standing in front of him. He did not want to show that any sign of weakness and answered him with an air of defiance.

"Why do you care, Tom? I banned Voldemort's wraith last year! That murderer only got what he deserved", he imitated Riddle on his last proclamation and the latter felt insulted and redirected his wand at Harry.

"Silence Potter! CRUCIO!" This time, he held the spell more longer than before and Harry went for a second round of suffering. When Tom Riddle stopped the spell, he knelt down on one knee closer to Harry and looked at him intently, with a neutral expression that showed no emotion. "Voldemort is my past, present, and future", and he relaxed and raised his wand in the air, then began to write in the air, the characters were in flames. He wrote down his full name; _Tom Marvolo Riddle_ and with a wand motion, the letters moved on their own to form _I am __Lord Voldemort_. Harry was suddenly turned between surprise and disgust, he was not afraid of the news that had just been learned. This lunatic is Voldemort, yet he had banned his wraith last year and he did not look like a 16-year-old student at all. He did not need a minute to realise that this bastard is behind the basilisk, he is responsible for what happened to his best friend. Voldemort confirmed his suspicions for him.

"And yes, Potter, it is I who reopened the Chamber of Secrets and released the Salazar's basilisk. I had to finish the job that I started over 50 years ago when I was still a student in this castle, I even managed to frame this fool Hagrid and made everyone believe that it was him who opened the Chamber. You came here to avenge your dear mudblood, I'll give you the opportunity to do so". He turned and raised his right hand towards the statue of Salazar Slytherin to speak a command in Parseltongue, _**"Speak to me Slytherin, The **__**Greatest**__** of the Hogwarts Four."**_ The mouth of the statue began to open and the inside was plain black. A noise from the inside could be heard. Meanwhile, Harry was reviewing his options, he knew that the beast was not going to take longer to show up, he did not have his wand, was still lying down on the ground under the effect of the spell – inflicted upon him by Lord Voldemort. Tom Riddle was still turning his back and staring at Slytherin's statue, the noise of the basilisk's movements were echoing louder and louder. Eventually, the beast eventually emerged from the mouth of the statue and it was frightening. The head was the first part of its body to emerge and it was wide; it was eight metres wide by seven metres tall, its eyes were yellow and imposing, a facial structure more like a dragon than a snake – just like its dark green scales. Harry had the reflex to lower his gaze to avoid looking at the basilisk directly in the eyes, but he could have a quick overview of the basilisk and he was sure of one thing, that bloody beast was not a simple snake to be displayed in a zoo.

Harry came to to render justice for Hermione, he had found out about the beast that had sent Hermione to the hospital wing and he had taken his courage with both hands to come face it. Unfortunately, he had not imagined an encounter with a shade of Voldemort, and now the basilisk is as huge as he couldn't has predicted. _Jesus freaking Christ!__. Oh, Hermione, what __should I do__?_, wondered Harry. He was supposed to face off the Basilisk, but didn't even have anything to defend himself. _What am I going to do? I feel weak, Riddle was right I'm weak and now I'm going to die without being able to defend myself and avenge Hermione_, when he whispered the name of his best friend in his head, a spasm went through his whole body and rage resurfaced, it seemed to replace the pain caused by the torture. He gritted his teeth to ease the pain and managed to get up – while still keeping his gaze down. He did the only thing he could at that moment, he turned to the entrance of the Main Chamber and ran away without looking behind him. He hasn't even covered a dozen metres when he heard Voldemort command the Basilisk to go after him.

"_**Kill him! He **__**may be able to speak to you**__** but he can**__**not command**__** you!"**_, hissed Voldemort, clearly dissatisfied that Potter is trying to escape even though his chances are tiny. In order not to make things easier, Harry heard him relaunch the spell before, _"CRUCIO!"_. Having no idea what to do, Harry threw himself to the floor with while performing a side roll on the floor – still running – and departed the next moment on a sprint to the exit. He did not need to think twice to know that Voldemort had missed him and that the Basilisk was pursuing him at full speed. He was looking straight ahead and was calculating the remaining distance needed for him to reach the exit, he was too far, two hundred metres at least. He cursed himself when realised that his chances of survival went up in smoke, the little courage he has previously found was going to evaporate. He could heard the Basilisk's voice for the first time, it was powerful and scary, and echoed throughout the Chamber, _**"You can **__**run as fast you can youngling, you cannot not escape me!."**_ Too focused about sprinting for his life, Harry failed to the register that the Basilisk's moves were shaking the ground.

A second after unsavoury words from Salazar Slytherin's beast, a crazy idea ran through Harry, inspired by Voldemort's command in front of Salazar Slytherin's statue, _Speak to me Gryffindor, bravest of the Hogwarts Four_. A flash of fire appeared – from nowhere in the air – in front of him, it was Fawkes Dumbledore's phoenix, he was carrying an object with him. Harry was still sprinting as he reached for the object Fawkes brought, he caught it in the air while still running, it was a sword. Later, Harry could never explain whatever pushed him to do what he did in moments that followed; instead of continuing to sprint towards the exit – which was still far away, he turned on his left and threw himself to the ground, towards the cobra statues. Belly on the ground, both arms stretched forward, one gripping close the sword, boosted by the momentum of his sprint, he slipped between two statues of cobra and imitated the lateral roll he made before to get up once between the two statues. He leaned back against a statue. He understood quickly that it was the appropriate thing to do because the head of the Basilisk passed in a flash, closing his jaw at the same time. Harry Potter did not need to be the most brilliant wizard to guess that the beast had just missed his target. The snapping of his jaw kept resonating three seconds later. _That was a close one_, he told himself.

Everything was going so fast that Harry did not have an extra second to think that he had just escaped death, Fawkes flew over his shoulder and charged towards the Basilisk's head that Harry had to avoid to look at, at all costs. He heard the Basilisk screaming, it was not a pleasant scream, the fury of the shrieking was piercing and Harry had to cover his ears to protect himself. From the tone of the scream, Harry realised that Fawkes had somehow managed to inflict damage on Slytherin's mythical beast. Then explosions were heard, he felt the ground vibrates and the cobra statue opposite him broke and it was not the only one, the body of the Basilisk was the cause. The beast uttered another groan as it was in pain because of Dumbledore's familiar attack. The pain made him move violently and hit statues at the same time. It was then that Voldemort resurfaced and was upset about the phoenix.

"Stupid bird, you dared to blind the Basilisk! I'm going to teach you to meddle with things that are no concern of yours. AVADA KEDAVRA!" The flash of green light passed next to Harry towards the Basilisk's head and reached its target judging by Voldemort's proclamations of joy, "now you can not help Potter any more", he laughed. and ordered the Basilisk, _**"you can not see **__**the foolish boy**__**any more**__** but you can still **__**smell him**__**, **__**he's**__**behind you on the left**__**, finish **__**him**__**!"**_, the Basilisk was still experimenting pain and turned to the location indicated by Riddle. Seeing nothing, it spread his jaw and simply attacked demolishing the two cobra statues that hid Harry. The latter took a leap back to avoid being swallowed by the Basilisk and being engulfed by debris of shattered statues.

For the first time, Harry had time to inspect the monster's head, it was even more larger once close to Harry, he could see his eyes pierced by Fawkes, they were closed with blood flowing. Unfortunately for the Basilisk, its head got stuck between other statues and it began to shake violently to free himself. Harry saw his only chance of inflicting damage on the beast, which was the least he could do for Hermione. He took the sword with his left hand and climbed over one of the statue to be at a higher level than the Basilisk. When he placed himself on the head of the statue, he took the sword with both hands and for the first time observed it, he saw an inscription; _Godric Gryffindor_, and proceeded to achieve what he had in mind, _it is __now or never_. He glanced at the basilica, which was about to break one of the statues to free itself. Harry grabbed the sword with both hands and let out his best cries of war in Parseltongue, _**"**__**THIS IS**__** FOR HERMIONE!"**_ He targeted one eye, thinking it was going to be less difficult to pierce a closed eyelid rather than the rest of the head – which was chipped. He jumped and landed right on the closed right eye of the beast, the sword crossed his eyelid and sank down to a deep of one metre. Harry felt the sword land on a gelatinous surface and penetrated it. The Basilisk screamed in pain and aggressively shook its head, Harry was ejected a few metres away but he managed to remove the sword before and fell with it.

The beast broke one of the statues that kept it trapped, a lot of blood and a white liquid ran down its eye attacked by Harry, after Fawkes of course. The blow was fatal but the Basilisk did not seem to have said its last word, Harry quickly realised that. As he was about to get up, _**"CRUCIO!"**_, Harry lost it, felt his body explodes and Voldemort started a speech of joy seeing his enemy suffers.

"You're tenacious Potter, I've underestimated you, it's already the third _Cruciatus_ of today. I see you almost managed to defeat the Basilisk but he too is tenacious. I'll leave him do the honour of finishing you. I haven't forgotten your mudblood, I will send her your corpse", he then stopped the _Cruciatus_ curse. Despite having been tortured three times by Voldemort, Harry still had the courage to not be intimidated. "I swear to God that you'll suffer one day for everything you've done to me, my parents and Hermione! I promise you this Tom". Voldemort got angry when he heard his name that he hates so much. Fortunately for Tom Riddle, the Basilisk used its last strength to peg one of its upper fangs through Harry's right chest and breaking a part of his ribcage. However, the Basilisk had only the tip of its hook through Harry's chest, so the diameter was wide enough to wound a whole breast. The poor boy could do nothing but suffer this horror and scream in pain as the Basilisk was destroying his right chest. A quick thought of Hermione gave Harry a slight amount of strength, he grabbed the sword that was next to his left hand and sliced the fang before it went deeper. He rolled on himself opposite the Basilisk. The beast of Salazar Slytherin collapsed for good, defeated by Harry Potter, a boy who came to avenge his best friend, Hermione Granger.

Harry Potter was sure that it was really over for him. When he used his last strength to remove the cut fang from his chest, the Basilisk's venom was already affecting his body, he could feel it circulating through his veins. All of this was happening under Riddle's comments. The venom was burning in his body but he was not really sure that it was caused by the Basilisk's venom, or the side effects of the _Cruciatus._ He did not care at this point, he was going to join his parents in a couple of seconds or minutes. He was losing the sense of reality, he was no longer paying attention to Tom Riddle's monologue. Then he closed his eyes and everything went dark.

He didn't not know how much time had passed, a couple of minutes or hours, he just didn't have any idea. When Harry opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the darkness wherever he was. He was sitting on a wooden chair and there was water everywhere, drops of water were falling down continuously not far from him but he could not locate their source. He noticed that he was inside a circle of light and everything else was plunged into darkness. He kept turning his head in the hopes of seeing something in the darkness, nothing... He realised that he was not afraid but rather in peace. He had his feet under the water and lowered his head, Harry admired his reflection and realised that he was still wearing his Hogwarts' dress and was not wearing glasses? He put his hand in front of his eyes to confirm his absence of glasses, he could see clearly without them. He remembered the events that led to this situation, _did I die or dream? If I'm dead, I do not think I'm in heaven and I do not see my parents_.

A cracking noise in front of him made him raise his head up and in front of him there was a man sitting on a chair wearing a black dress, this person had red eyes that reminded him of, _Voldemort!_ Harry was definitely not in heaven. This Voldemort was different, he was no longer the young Tom Riddle who had just made him discover the _Cruciatus __curse_, he looked more like the wraith he had banished last year, but with he had a more humane facial structure. This Voldemort looked surprised and curious and was the first to speak.

"It's been a while Harry Potter", Harry frowned and said to Voldemort, "You're the third version of Voldemort I'm meeting. What the hell is going on?" Harry thought he saw Voldemort's eyes flashing for a moment.

"To be honest with you, I've been stuck here for about ten years. When I say stuck, it's in the literal sense of the word. From this place, I have been able to observe all your life Harry, since that day that the old fool abandoned you to your late mother's sister and her obese husband. Harry, I saw how these people made mistreated you. If I could, I'd go and mutilate those filthy muggles who mistreated a helpless child".

Harry said nothing and just listened to Voldemort, he did not want to think about the Dursleys. He could not deny what Voldemort was saying. Thousands of questions circulated in his brain, how does Voldemort know? What is this place? His he dead or is this just a nightmare? Perhaps an hallucination caused by the Basilisk's venom. How come there are three versions of Voldemort? He kept looking at Voldemort. Harry wanted furiously wanted to accept the idea of his death. Maybe Voldemort could answer some of his questions. Strangely, Voldemort answered his prayer. Harry wanted to laugh at his fate, he was in front of the murderer of his parents and was eager to interview him.

"I know you're asking yourself questions that are worth answering. I can enlighten a little but know that I can not tell you the whole truth to your questions."

"Talk Tom, I want the truth", said Harry. Voldemort laughed but it annoyed Harry who did not have the time to fool around. He was sure of one thing, all these different versions of Voldemort are annoying with their laughter. Suddenly, Voldemort's gaze took on a calculating expression. "Actually, I changed my mind".

Harry was about to protest when he saw an unrecognisable wand appear in Voldemort's hand. He mentally prepared to face off whatever Voldemort had in reserve for him, he was in a new situation without decency, it was definitely not his lucky day. Without further ado, Voldemort cast the spell that Harry had just become familiar with.

"_CRUCIO!"_

Harry couldn't anything than endure the _Cruciatus_. The degree of intensity was surpassing the ones experienced before. He began to moan and was bounded to the chair. Voldemort rose up from his chair and walked towards him, his wand still pointing at his victim. When he was just centimetres away from Harry, he made some unknown gestures with the wand and his body began to transform. Still under the Cruciatus, Harry saw Voldemort turning into the wraith he had faced last year; the wraith began to engulf Harry and infiltrated his scar. His scar began to bleed and he felt his head wiggle in every direction, an external observer could have compared this scene to an exorcism session. Harry was submerged in the darkness, the pain was so rare that he could not feel it any more. He plunged into nothingness and could hear Voldemort's laugh ringing in his head and eventually disappearing into oblivion.

The scenery around him changed and he was back in the Chamber of Secrets. He could no longer feel his body, no muscle reacted to his will to move. He was completely paralysed. An abrupt movement on his chest attracted his attention, Fawkes was crying on his chest. The phoenix had changed, he looked like a chick that had just hatched. When Fawkes finished his task, he left Harry's chest and sat down next to him. Harry realised that his body was reacting again and he could move his limbs. The first thing he did was to consult the state of the wound inflicted by the Basilisk, the wound was closed, the bones were healed. However, there was a huge circular scar and its skin had a green texture. He turned his head and saw the carcass of the dead Basilisk. Then he focused his gaze in front of him and saw the silhouette of Voldemort's shade in the distance, he had not noticed that Harry was conscious again.

Harry tried to remember the last hours or minutes. It all started before he entered the girls' bathroom on the second floor until he came across a diary before starting his journey to the Chamber of Secrets. _That's it!__ I __would have__ never g__otten__ here without th__at__bloody__ diary_. Speaking of diary, it was not far from him, _Riddle __must have moved it there_. He took Gryffindor's sword, which was still in his left hand, got up and walked towards the diary. He watched his steps to avoid attracting the Voldemort's attention who was busy doing with God knows what. He knelt next to the diary, clutched the sword with one hand, and stabbed it the diary. When the sword touched it, some blood began to fuse. He heard Voldemort's wraith screaming in the distance, then saw it exploding into a thousand pieces in a white gleam, uttering a piercing scream before completely volatilising.

A.N. The is the end of the first chapter. I hope that you enjoyed it. Reviews – positive or negative – are welcome. I'd like to remind that English is not my first language so there may be spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Next chapter will take place one year and a half after this one. Harry and Hermione will meet again during summer in the United States.

I've got a question for the Weasley's Bashing squad: why do you usually make Fred, George Arthur and Bill the good ones? I'd rather bash all of them lol.


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